Emirates Expands Sponsorship Portfolio With Music And Culture

Emirates activated Arab Idol 3 with a life-sized replica of its onboard lounge to bring the Emirates experience to life.

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Major Emirates Sponsorships

AFC Asian Cup 2015

AFC Champions League

Arsenal Football Club

ATP World Tour

Emirates Australian Open (golf)

Emirates Australian Open Series (tennis)

Emirates Airline US Open Series

Emirates Arena, Glasgow, Scotland

Emirates British Film Festival

Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, England

Emirates Stadium, London

European Tour

Formula One

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

New York Cosmos

Real Madrid FC

Rugby World Cup 2015 & 2019

US Open (tennis)

USA Rugby

Emirates is expanding its sponsorship portfolio beyond large-scale sports events for the winter and spring of 2015.

The airline’s focus: music and culture. New deals include the RedFest DXB music festival and ChoirFest Middle East.

In addition, the airline is title sponsor of the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival—a partnership that began in 2003 and has since grown into a calendar event that has attracted almost 390,000 spectators—and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, a literary event that is expected to draw nearly 30,000 visitors this year.

From November through April each year, Emirates supports more than 40 events in the United Arab Emirates alone, ranging from music and cultural festivals to sports. The airline kicks off November with the season opener at Meydan ending in the Dubai World Cup, and the annual cricket event, the Emirates Airline T20.

“Dubai and the UAE, being our home market, gets the lion’s share of our attention when it comes to sponsorship, as it aligns with our strategy to boost Dubai’s attractiveness as a hub for cultural, arts and world-class sporting events,” said Boutros Boutros, Emirates divisional senior vice president, corporate communications, marketing and brand.

“Sports allow our brand to reach a broad audience across geographies, while music and culture tend to be slightly more niche. Sponsoring cultural events allows us to engage a different audience, or sometimes, even the same audience in a different setting.”

This year, Emirates Skywards members in the Middle East can redeem their miles for concert tickets and VIP hospitality to the Emirates Airline Dubai Jazz Festival and Redfest DXB.

In popular culture and entertainment, Emirates recently sponsored Arab Idol 3, one of the highest rated reality shows in the Middle East. The finale was viewed by more than 100 million people across the Middle East and the rest of the world, with thousands of viewers from the UAE alone. The airline activated a series of initiatives including a life-size replica of its on-board lounge at the Beirut studios to bring the Emirates experience to life for the contestants on the show. Contestants also were able to experience the airline’s flagship A380 on a trip to Mauritius.

Emirates Holidays also teamed up as a commercial partner with “Stars on Board,” a holiday cruise concept that brings together some of the Arab world’s biggest celebrities on a week-long cruise.

On the local and regional sports end, Emirates recently entered its second year with the Dubai Tour, a cycling race that stretches more than 600 kilometers across Dubai. Emirates also announced a sponsorship of the 30th GCC Club Cup, an annual soccer tournament that brings together 12 clubs from six GCC nations.

Outside of the UAE, Emirates sponsors the Australian Symphonies comprised of the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras. In the United States, Emirates sponsors the San Francisco symphony.

Onboard, music comprises a significant chunk of content offered on Emirates’ ice entertainment system. Ice features more than 1,000 music and podcast channels in almost 36 languages spanning classical, opera, jazz, R&B and other genres. It also has channels dedicated to the Emirates Festival of Literature as well as an audio book collection. The ice inflight entertainment system also has a dedicated channel to the symphony orchestras that the airline sponsors.

IEG Sponsorship Report

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